Trials and Tribulations
by kokomocalifornia
Summary: [temp hiatus] Set during D3. Adam is having trouble still remaining friends with the Ducks and Varsity as well as fighting his own battles.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I make no claim to anything from the Mighty Ducks movies. Disney owns everything.

CHAPTER ONE – THE SCARF 

Adam stared into his frozen locker. It did not matter that the Ducks had frozen his clothes, or shoes, or even his Rolex watch. He could easily replace them. The item that Adam cared only about was the most valuable and worthless item in his locker. A scarf.

The scarf was torn and faded, made out of black and white wool with black tassels on the end. On the back it had a label, which read

_To my darling Adam._

_Hope this brings you luck._

_You make me so proud._

_Love, Mum xxoo_

Except that writing was now unreadable as it was covered in a thick layer of ice.

Adam has worn it under his gear every single game until recently since his mother had made it for him. It was nice to know that she was always with him, bringing him luck, encouraging him. The scarf had begun to fall apart so fearing he would lose the scarf forever, he kept it nearby in his locker holding it in his hands before each game.

While the rest of the varsity team instantly began plotting revenge, Adam carefully picked up the frozen scarf and walked sadly out of the locker room towards the dorms. Adam was too upset to be mad at the Ducks right now. The Ducks now had not only officially rejected him from the JV team but also has destroyed something so precious to him. But he could not be mad at the Ducks. Hockey was very territorial and he was sure they had not meant to ruin his beloved scarf.

A single tear escaped from his left eye and slowly trickled down his cheek falling slowly and softly to the ground. If he had looked around at all he would of noticed Fulton watching him very closely and following him as he walked across campus.

As Adam entered his room he carefully placed the scarf on his bedside table. He could feel the emotions swelling around inside of him, aching to burst. He had to get out of here. Just at that moment his phone buzzed with a message. Shaking himself, Adam quickly changed and grabbed his skates and his hockey stick and left the dorms.

Fulton was just about to enter the dreaded varsity building. His concern of Adam must have been great to consider such a feat, when Adam came rushing out the door straight past him. If Fulton had blinked he would of missed Adam go past he was in such a hurry. His concern for his former teammate was still strong so he hurriedly continued following.

Adam arrived at the old division five pond in record time. She was already waiting though.

"You're late."

"No. You're early."

They both smiled.

"Well, how about we play some real hockey."

"Your on, little one. I'm going to wipe your face into the ice" replied Adam.

'We'll see about that."

Fulton arrived just as the game began. Except, you really couldn't call it a game, as they never seemed to keep score. They just played for the love of it, and they were both pretty damn good.

Fulton heard a noise behind him and turned to see the rest of the Ducks walking up behind him dressed for some of their own old pond hockey fun. They reached the edge of the pond and started watching the fantastic game that Fulton had been viewing.

Dwayne commented, "Wow. These guys are really good."

"Do you think they will let us play with them?" Connie asked no one in particular.

"There's only one way to find out" spoke up Charlie.

Fulton went to stop Charlie but he was already fast approaching them.

"Hi." Conway said to the girl. "My name is Charlie and I'm the captain of the Ducks. Wow! What a shot! Anyway, we were just wondering if we could join in your game."

"I know who you are," the girl said politely. "But it's up to my brother." She pointed in the direction of Adam. It was then Charlie finally recognised him.

"Adam."

"Hey, Charlie. C'mon Georgia we better get you home. You know how Dad worries about you."

"I'm fine Adam but I am hungry."

"You're always hungry."

"Hey. I'm a growing girl."

"Growing out you mean."

"Oh, you'll pay for that one. It was nice to meet you Charlie. Last one to reach the porch has to do the dishes!" With that she skated off.

It was so funny to the Ducks to see how comfortable and relaxed Adam was and how he interacted with his sister. He was also so quiet and shy.

Adam went to follow Georgia but turned waving a "bye" to the Ducks.

"How come you never told us you had a sister?" asked Averman.

"You never asked." As the team watched Adam attempt to catch up to his sister they all realised that they really didn't know anything about Adam or his life.

"I call front line," shouted Guy, and the Ducks began to play.


	2. 2 Fire Ants

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Mighty Ducks or any of its associated copyrights._

**Thank-you to my reviewers!**

**Punkteacher:** Thanks for being my first reviewer. I really appreciate it!

**Banks'-gurl-99**: Thank-you for your kind words and I hope you like this chapter.

**Rachel**: Sorry it took me so long to update. Thank-you for reading.

**Kel:** Adam will get mad at the Ducks soon. It's just he has been raised as a levelheaded person who has been trained to be courteous and a gentleman and not lose his temper. Yes, Adam's mother is dead, which will be explained in more detail in upcoming chapters.

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**CHAPTER TWO – Fire Ants**

_ADAM'S POV_

Tonight was a complete disaster. How could he, the Adam Banks, let varsity trick him into tricking the ducks to pay for a very expensive dinner? The anxiety weighed down on Adam so much that it physically hurt. The ducks will never speak to me again now, he thought.

For a few hours Adam lay there thinking horrible things and listening to his roommate Nick Larson's snores. Finally becoming fed up, he got up, quickly dressed and decided to use this time constructively. Grabbing his books and satchel, Banks headed off to the library.

It was pretty cool that the school had a twenty-four hour library and computer lab. But, it was after dorm curfew and he didn't have permission to leave his room so Adam glanced quickly down the corridor and confirmed the coast was clear before making a dash to the library. Adam thought he heard something going on down the other end of the corridor, but it was probably the janitor if anything at all. Shrugging it off and not wanting to get caught, he didn't give it another moment's bother. Little did Adam know …

* * *

_SCOOTER'S POV_

He was itchy and burning all over. His body screamed in pain. There was something crawling all over him. This was the way that Scott Whyte woke up late in the night. Oh dear god it burned! Scooter's roommate Riley turned the light on and he saw that himself and Riley were covered in ants! Fire ants to be exact. Judging by the noise in the corridor so was the rest of varsity.

Riley finally managed to open the door and run out into the corridor, but Scooter could barely move. He was severely allergic to ant bites as well as oregano, but the oregano wasn't a problem at the moment. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. He tried in vain to swat the ants off but weakly fell back onto his bed with a thud. The room began to fade when he heard Riley say, "Tomorrow. Dawn." Before everything went black and Scooter not knowing if he were ever to wake up again.

* * *

_ADAM'S POV_

Adam packed up his books and headed back to his nice comfortable bed feeling slightly less restless now. Secretly he crossed the grounds and entered his dorm building. As he entered the hallway where the varsity players lived he noticed all the doors to the rooms were open. Odd, thought Banks. There was no one around. He peered around into each room until he finally found one person. Scooter.

Adam entered and walked over the Scooter when he noticed that there were ants everywhere. Scooter was bitten all over too. "Scooter" Adam said nudging him slightly. No response. "Scooter" he said again more forcefully and poking him pretty hard in the ribs. No response. It was then that Adam noticed that his breathing was laboured and his face was all sweaty and pale.

Panicking slightly, Adam grabbed the phone and dialled 911. It took the ambulance a pain-staking 8 minutes and 27 seconds to arrive according to Banks's watch. The paramedics immediately began to work on Scooter.

They hooked him up to a heart monitor, an IV and some oxygen. They performed tests on Scooter that Adam didn't really pay attention to. His attention was fixed on the sickly face of his teammate, the only varsity player who had been nice to him.

Adam reflected on his first training session with varsity. It felt like every single player was out to show him how tough they all were, and they did. Adam had played rough hockey before but had never received such brutal treatment from his own team. Finally the session finished and the team were changing the locker room. Adam sat down on the bench next to his locker. His body willed to fall on the ground so he could fall asleep and moan in agony, but Adam dared not show any sign of weakness. Adam was concentrating so hard on not showing his pain that he did not realise Cole and Riley walk up to him.

Cole grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him clear off the ground slamming him into his locker. Riley shoved his head almost right against Banks' so that he could feel his hot breath on his face. "You listen here Banksie. You give us any trouble or show any Duck loyalty and I will personally give you trouble. You're on varsity now." Riley smoothed over Adam's hair "Well you've got to look respectable now that you're actually on a real team." The other varsity players sniggered as Cole dropped him back onto the bench with no tenderness.

As the team filed out behind Riley and Cole, they each shot a menacing glance at Adam as though daring him to not do as they told him to just so that they would get the opportunity to show him who's boss.

Finally, Adam was alone. He slouched down on the bench and closed his eyes. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming from down the other end of the locker room. Snapping to attention and opening his eyes, Banks saw that it was Scooter. But to Adam's surprise, rather than ridiculing him, he walked directly up to him and smiled a genuinely friendly smile, the smile Adam knew made the girl's crazy. "Hi. I'm Scooter." "Adam Banks. Nice to meet you." "Same here Banks."

All of a sudden Scooter leaned in and whispered to Adam, "Don't worry about those guys. Most of them are just mucking about with you. They really don't have anything against you; actually they think you are a pretty good player. So just give them time." "And the rest?" enquired Banks. "They're jealous. You have much more natural talent than they have combined. No one has ever made varsity in their junior year. They are just worried you will take their position." Adam nodded. It seemed to make sense.

"Just hang in there Adam, and you will see how great the guys can be. And for those that are jealous of you, as soon as they realise what a great person you are, they will be ashamed of themselves for not liking you." With that and a comforting clap on Adam's shoulder, Scooter exited the room with Banks staring gratefully behind him.

Waking Adam from his thoughts, the shorter tanned medic to said to the older one said, "his throat is closing over. We need to intubate now." Immediately before Adam's eyes the paramedics stuck a tube down Scooter's throat and had to help him breathe. The medic's quickly came to the conclusion that he was allergic to the ants and gave him anti-venom.

"We have to get him to the hospital now." Adam broke his silence and asked worriedly, "is Scooter going to be okay?" "Scott here is allergic to the ant bites and while we have given him an anti-venom it may not be enough to compensate with the ant bites or we may have been too late. Do you want to ride to the hospital with us?" Banks nodded. It felt like the good friendly thing to do. Scooter had been there for Adam and Adam was determined to keep the favour.

The trip to the hospital was fast and uncomplicated until as they approached the hospital, the heart monitor suddenly flat-lined …


	3. Hospitals and Hockey Sticks

_

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Disclaimer: I own nothing, It all belongs to those wonderful people at Disney._

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_**CHAPTER THREE – Hospitals and hockey sticks**_

Everyone arrived at the hospital safe and sound. It turned out that Scooter's machine had just come unplugged. He was still in a critical condition, but for the moment very much alive. Adam sat in the waiting room of the emergency department of the hospital. 'I hope Scooter's alright' he wished.

Adam stood to go to the bathroom. He was so concerned about his friend that he ran into someone he would have thought to in his normal state of mind to avoid.

'Adam Banks!' exclaimed Doctor Ian Clark.

Adam looked up in surprise. Doctor Clark was the last person he wanted to see.

'Now Adam. You haven't been playing hockey have you? You know its dangerous in your condition!'

'No Doctor. A friend of mine had an allergic reaction and I just came to the hospital with him.'

'Good to hear. But not about your friend, though. If I hear any mention of you playing hockey or exerting yourself in any way I will be forced to break my promise to you. Do you understand?'

'Yes Doctor' Adam replied.

The Doctor smiled at Adam. 'Don't worry. You will be fine to play hockey soon as long as you stick to my strict orders. Now, did you happen to catch the game on Saturday night on Fox?'

'Sure did, it was –' Adam was interrupted.

Another doctor had walked over to the pair. 'Are you Adam Banks?'

'Yes.' 'My name is Doctor Greg Armstrong. You will be very pleased to hear that your friend Scott is doing very well. Another minute and he would have been beyond help. You saved his life. You can go in and see him now, but I think it's best if you head home soon, son. It's very late.'

'I agree Greg. Go home Adam and get the rest you need.'

'All right. I'll just pop in and say good night to Scooter and then I will be on my way.'

'See that you are. Night.'

A few minutes later Adam was standing beside Scooter. He looked awful, but at least he was alive. Not noticing Adam's presence he continued to sleep, snoring loudly. Adam said to Scooter knowing he could not hear him, 'Good night Scooter. I will come see you tomorrow. Get better. In know time at all you will be back playing hockey. We will both be playing hockey.'

* * *

Adam returned to the dorms at 5am. Maybe he could get a few hours sleep before class started. As he entered the corridor to the varsity rooms, he noticed that all of his team were up and dressed to play hockey. 'What is going on?' thought Adam.

'Banksie!' cried Reily. 'Why aren't you ready to play? Where have you been?'

Adam noticed that they were all covered in horrible ant bites. 'I've been at the hospital with Scooter. He had an allergic reaction to the ants. He's going to be okay though' Adam added quickly seeing the look of concern and anger fill the faces of his teammates.

'Damn those Ducks!' screamed Cole as he punched the wall. 'They will pay for what they have done.'

'Save it for on the ice, Cole. See you out there in a few minutes Banks. Today is yet another day when you should be grateful you're not a Duck. And you better be out on the ice today. No wimping out. We will make those Ducks pay, but a traitor on our own team will pay more.' Riley gave Adam a significant death stare and walked past him.

'Be out in a few minutes' mumbled Adam nervously.

Exactly seven minutes later he was warming up with Varsity. Before he knew what was going on the game was into full swing. Adam tired to tell Charlie he was sorry about everything that had happened and he didn't want any part of it. But, Charlie wouldn't listen. 'He always is so stubborn' thought Adam.

Varsity were winning, as Adam knew they would. The gaming was going really bad until it got worse when Charlie shoved him. Then the fight was on. It was all a flurry of gear and fists until Adam felt a hockey stick come down hard on the centre of his head. In his disorientated state he noticed too late Charlie charging at him. Before he could react, he was smashed into the wall, exploding in pain he heard Coach Orion's voice ring out in the distance, but the ringing in his own head drowned this out...


End file.
